Reginald Edward Thompson

“ From his father, who was well versed in general literature, and a good Greek and Latin scholar, Brodie received his early education. In 1797, when the country was alarmed by the prospect of a French invasion, Brodie and two brothers raised a company of volunteers. At the age of eighteen he went up to London, to enter upon the medical profession. There he devoted himself at once to the study of anatomy, attending first the lectures of Abernethy, and in 1801 and 1802 those of Wilson at the Hunterian school in Great Windmill Street, working hard in the dissecting-room. ”

“ BAIRD, WILLIAM, M.D. (1803–1872) , physician, was born at Eccles, and educated at the High School, Edinburgh. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, Dublin, and Paris, and entered the service of the East India Company as surgeon. He was a zoologist of considerable ability, and communicated several papers to the Zoological and Linnean Societies. In 1829 he helped to establish the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, which served to extend the pursuit of natural science. ”

“ In 1853 he returned to England, residing at Beccles in Suffolk, and working at his microscopical studies up to a short time before his death. He was an indefatigable worker, with the keenest interest in his studies, and to him are due the important discoveries of the segmentation of the yolk in the mammiferous ovum, and the penetration of spermatozoa within the zona pellucida. ”